Web show being shot across North Kitsap

The “Harbor Island” web series production team shoots a scene Sunday in the lobby of West Sound Academy in Poulsbo.
Herron Miller / Kitsap Sun

POULSBO - It's Sunday morning in a West Sound Academy classroom and Poulsbo filmmaker Scott A. Capestany is giving 10 children a short course in television production as they prepare to shoot a scene from his original drama, "Harbor Island."

He warns the kids not to look at the camera and not to move their prop books and binders between takes. He directs a crew member to mark the floor with blue tape at each spot where he'll set up his camera. And he asks West Sound Head of School Barrie Hillman to create scenery by putting red string on a classroom map to mark Lewis and Clark's journey.

As they rehearse, Mrs. Chavez, a teacher portrayed by Seattle actress Blanca Nuno, asks the group to name the Native American woman who accompanied the explorers. Ten hands shoot up.

She calls on Tacoma sixth-grader Dominic Rowell, a first-time actor who plays Lance in the film.

"Saca ...," Dominic looks down, then back at the teacher. "Yes, Sacagawea."

Capestany laughs. "Was that acting or did you forget your line? I love that."

Capestany and his film crew have been shooting the 30-minute mystery about a missing 11-year-old girl throughout Poulsbo and North Kitsap in recent weeks. In addition to West Sound Academy, locations include Liberty Bay Books, Cenex Supply, Junction Diner, Dancing Brush, Salsbury Point County Park and Hansville Hill. Other scenes were shot in Port Townsend and in the Seattle Central Library.

The show will be broadcast in three parts on Seattle and King County cable access, starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The work also can be seen online as 10 to 12 webisodes.

Capestany, who acts in the project as well as writing, directing and producing it, said he has wanted to shoot a film in Poulsbo since moving there seven years ago. He also wanted to capture the quiet beauty of the Pacific Northwest's gray winter days. He was on the Bainbridge ferry, pulling into Eagle Harbor, when the inspiration for "Harbor Island" struck.

The filmmaker grew up in Redmond and attended the University of Washington, majoring in communications and journalism. He found his passion when searching for a way to combine creativity with the marketing experience he gained managing the school store.

"I fused the creative side and the business side and that's when a producer is born," he said.

Capestany continues to balance art and commerce, using his work producing commercials for hotels, luxury resorts and golf courses to help fund projects such as "Harbor Island," which has a budget of less than $10,000. He calls it a nonprofit production.

"None of us is getting paid," he said. In some cases, actors even pitch in a few hundred dollars to improve the production values for their scenes. Capestany said he tries to showcase regional actors, giving them experience and high-quality video clips to show when seeking paid work.

One reason actors are volunteering their time for "Harbor Island" is because of its focus on the issue of missing children. That's true of Debbie Tucker Markezich, a Woodinville mother of four, who is headmistress of the fictitious Harbor Island Academy.

"It's such a serious issue," she said. "If any awareness can be brought to this issue through drama, then I want to be a part of it."

Capestany plans to end the show with a public service announcement, directing viewers to the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The filmmaker said Poulsbo and the North Kitsap community have been very welcoming to his production and he hopes to do more work in the area, including a special Kitsap Peninsula edition of his cable travel series, "Island Getaways," and a family film called "Legend of Cypruss Island."

Hillman, the West Sound Academy head of school, said she was happy to support the production while also spotlighting her school's scenic Highway 305 campus, where 94 children are enrolled in grades six through 12.

"We foster creativity here and it's fun for the students to see creativity in the real world."

Hillman's 10-year-old daughter, Julie, has three lines in the film, as she asks a classmate whether he saw the missing Ashley Hines on the school bus that morning.

A veteran of three plays, Julie said acting is fun. What about filming? "It's kind of slow, but so far kind of fun."

Her 8-year-old brother, Tyler, is an extra in the classroom scene, as are West Sound Academy sixth-graders Wyatt Weber and Koby Rosenberg. Wyatt said it was interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at filming a television show. Like Julie, he remarked on the slow pace. "There's a lot of waiting."

Capestany said each page of script equals about a minute on the screen but takes two to four hours to shoot. Sunday, it took more than five hours to rehearse and shoot slightly more than 1 ½ pages.

Most of the time is spent adjusting camera angles, setting up lighting, adjusting for glare or shadows, moving distracting items from sight, and recording noises such as footsteps on a tile floor to be matched with a scene as it's edited.

Several hours after first meeting with the child actors and extras for the classroom scene, Capestany is ready to film. The kids, full of pizza and tired of sitting around, are fidgety. Dominic, the novice actor who delivers the line about Sacagawea, is finding it hard to focus.

Six crew members have moved the camera, lights and boom microphone into position. The assistant director is ready to snap the black-and-white-striped marker indicating the start of scene 8A. And Nuno, the actress playing the teacher, has delivered her line asking students to name Lewis and Clark's guide.

But Capestany isn't happy with Rowell's snappy delivery of the answer, "Sacagawea," and his follow-up line when asked her tribe: "Sho , um, Shoshone."

"I need you to be serious," Capestany said. "Not too funny."

After a few more run-throughs: "Look at the teacher. Try not to goof off. Try to concentrate."

It takes a brief conference in the hall, two more rehearsals and two takes before Dominic is calmer and Capestany is satisfied.

"Cut. There it is, right there. Moving on," he said. "Everybody, give (Dominic) a hand."

GO ONLINE

The first four webisodes of "Harbor Island," which was shot primarily in Poulsbo and North Kitsap, can be viewed here.

For information about Scott A. Capestany's other productions, including casting opportunities, click here.